Tonight was my birthday party, and in cleaning up the place I found the receipt for Guitar Hero 2, so I took it to the store and got it exchanged for a new, sealed copy without hassle. The Xbox was misbehaving too badly to play Guitar Hero anyway, so the point was kind of moot, but I'm glad it got dealt with. On the other hand, we had some four way action with Marathon 2 for about 45 minutes, that was great fun. I always wanted to try multiplayer when I first had it in high school, but none of my friends had a Mac. I had a whale of a time, and the only reason why it stopped after 45 minutes is because we wanted to switch to Guitar Hero. It just won't stay fixed, I've decided that there's nothing for it but to buy a new console, but I'm still really really happy that we all played Marathon 2 for a bit.

It wasn't exactly the wildest party I've ever had, but it was pretty nice. In lieu of playing on the Xbox we stuck on the third season of Samurai Jack and just let it play, I enjoyed that. We didn't get around to playing any board games, but there's always next time. Also, it was great just to see everyone, so I'd just like to say thanks to those who were able to make it.

So I posted once in December, now January's almost over, and I'm posting again. The holidays were good, I got to see lots of people, and I got everything I wanted for Christmas (beer, turkish delight, AND macadamia nuts!)New Year's was awesome, although I had to buy a suit. Then again, I got it at the Sears clearance centre by Lougheed Mall, so it cost about $80, which isn't bad at all, and I now have a suit, so it's all good.

On the Xbox front (since I seem to have stopped talking about Lego) I've done the washer fix three times now, the third time I hammered a piece of copper pipe flat to make a shim to go between the GPU and its heat sink. That third fix worked great for about two weeks, then it started getting finicky. My brother gave me and Jenn Marvel Ultimate Alliance for Christmas, but the Xbox died a minute after I put it in. After a while it started crashing for all the graphics intensive games, which meant I was limited to playing Marathon 2. Eventually it would crash for that, and every time it was a 0102 error code, which usually means a GPU error. I assumed that the problem was the GPU overheating, mostly because the air blowing out the back was really hot. On Dec 27th I ordered a Talismoon fan to replace the fan that the Xbox comes with, and it finally arrived last friday. I put it in right away, of course. I also cut away the mesh over the fans and on the left intake side to try to increase the airflow. I couldn't get it to work that night, but Saturday after work, I made some adjustments to the screws holding down the GPU, and Presto! It worked. I played Rumble Roses XX for an hour, without crashing. Sunday night I popped in Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and played that for an hour and a half, I would have gone longer, but I was really tired after work, and shut it off and went to sleep. Yesterday Jenn and I played Guitar Hero 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance for well over two hours, again with no problems. Given that the air coming out the back is significantly cooler, I'm really hoping that I've got it fixed for the long term now.

I've also made a New Year's resolution regarding the Xbox. I'm not allowed to play between 9:00am and 6:30pm unless I've been to the pool in the last 48 hours, and practiced on the accordion that day or the previous one. The exceptions being when I'm sick or injured, or when I'm entertaining guests.

Anyway, because the Xbox is working now, I've ordered two wired controllers, so as to have four controllers by the time my birthday comes around, and we can get some four player mayhem going on, though I only have four games for four players: Big Bumpin, Pocket Bike Racer, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Rumble Roses XX. I also have two guitar controllers for Guitar Hero 2, and while I haven't unlocked much, I have found a cheat code that I can at least unlock everything for the party.

Speaking of which, the party is on Feb. 9th. A pyjama party, mostly because I want to slob about in my PJ's. I'm doing the invites through Facebook, and I've noticed that you can invite people who aren't on Facebook via email. They get a personal link to rsvp, although they can't view the full guest lists. It's functional at least, although I don't have Mimi's email. I also may have forgotten some people, leave a comment if you didn't get an invite and would like one.

As it turns out, the Keg is a little pricey for some, and not particularly liked by others, and they can't make a reservation for me on the 16th, so they're out. The Old Spaghetti Factory is likewise full to the brim on the 16th, so we can't do that either. I've also pushed back dinner time for people who work late on saturday, so here's the new plan (now 65% more laid back):

Sometime between 5:30 and 6:00, gather at our place to watch the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special.

If there's only a few people around for dinner near 6:30, we'll just go somewhere close (maybe the local sushi place?), or if there's more than a few, we'll order pizza or go to the Chinese buffet around the corner.

After dinner is A Christmas Story and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

It looks like Saturday, December 16 will be my day to watch Christmas movies. Here's the deal:

4:00pm) show up at our place if you want to watch the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special

5:30pm) dinner reservations at the Keg on Columbia St. in New Westminster

After dinner, back at our place (8pm? Who knows how long dinner will take), we'll be watching my two favourite holiday movies, A Christmas Story and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (getting sauced during the first movie will ease the pain of the second).

Feel free to join us for any part you wish to join in. If you want to be part of the Keg reservation, get back to me by this Monday night and I'll include you when I make the reservation on Tuesday. If the Keg turns out to be full (I doubt it will happen for that early, that far in advance) I'll switch to the Old Spaghetti Factory and post an update. Also, I've timed things just right for the first show finishing and then hopping on the bus to make the reservation, and it's an easy trip back by transit too, so no need to set up designated drivers for dinner.

Long time no update. Jenn's birthday went incredibly well, her blog has most of the goings-on. One thing that sticks out in my mind is that I got to use the charcoal chimney I bought for the first time, and wow, that thing works like a hot damn. It really is amazing how having the right tools for the right job makes things so much easier. No lighter fluid, no messing around, just stick paper in the bottom, charcoal in the top and let it burn. My beer was generally well-recieved, I think the general consensus was "not great, but drinkable", which was really all I was hoping for. I wish a little more of it got drunk though, I still have about 15 bottles to finish up on my own. Unless I have guests who want to share with me.

Aside from that, things are moving along. Getting used to taking transit to work, it's not too bad. Gave my statement of what happened to ICBC yesterday, just have to wait for them to attribute fault and then I can look into cancelling my insurance. I have the stuff for paying off the car (which seems to have devalued $5000 in a little over a year), so I just have to make an appointment to get that taken care of. I can't wait to have this over with.

In other news, here's something amusing and sad I read about in the newspaper. And here's something I found trying to track down the previous item.

Also, Lego has bought a license for Batman, sets to come next year. I definately won't buy this. I hope that by the time I have kids to buy toys for Lego will be making their own original stuff, expecially for their Space theme, which hasn't had anything new since Life on Mars in 2001, which wasn't very much like regular Space Lego. The last of that kind of thing was Insectoids in 1998. As much as I love Star Wars, I want to see something original happening again.

UPDATE: 2HRS LATER

ICBC called, they've attributed 25% of the fault to me because I admitted (and witnesses verified) that I entered on the yellow. This is low enough that my insurance premiums won't be affected, and I'll get 75% of my deductable refunded to me. This is good enough for me, so I'm not going to challenge it. All that remains is to cancel the insurance and pay out the car.

Beer's done. I bottled it two weeks ago, so today is the day that the instructions said to make sure it's carbonated, and boy it is carbonated. It's cask conditioned like a Unibroue beer, so it's got a bit of yeasty fruitiness like those ones do, but it's a dark lager so it's got some smokiness like Cantebury. The flavour's not too strong though, so it's kind of inoffensive like Kokanee. I like all three of those beers, especially the listed qualities, thus I judge my first brewing attempt palatable and successful. It's hard to get a final reading on the hydrometer because of the effervesence, but I place the strength around 5%, which isn't bad at all. Now all I need is help drinking it...

Jenn's-Birthday-also-Neil's-and-by-proxy-Kalev's-Late-Oktoberfest-Early-Halowe'en-He Man-DVD-Release-Housewarming-PARTY!!!(the neighbours have been warned...)

Who: Jenn, me, and anyone else who wants to come by.

What: I'll fire up the BBQ, weather permitting, so bring your own meat and snacks, and I'll even cook it up for you if it's something easy like burgers or sausage (bratwurst would be entirely appropriate, steaks and ribs are discouraged). Also, I'll have 22 750mL bottles of beer to share, bring more if you're worried about me running out.

How: Dressed oddly or in a costume for Jenn's amusement, also for Halowe'en.

When: Saturday, October 22nd, starting around 6ish.

Where: Our happy little hobbit hole, email, phone, or MSN us for directions.

Why: See party title.

Limited crashing space available, those who crash will be expected to help clean before tea.

Racked the beer today, which is to say that I siphoned it off from the primary fermenter into the secondary fermenter. It was supposed to take three to five days for the layer of foam on the top to come down, and while today is day three the foam was mostly fallen last night. Jenn has noticed that when she made welsh cakes here that they rose more than they ever did at the old apartment, so I'm wondering if our basement suite is a favourable environment for leavening and fermentation, just in terms of temperature and humidity. Anyway, the specific gravity (which is tested with a little floating scale thingy called a hydrometer) was supposed to start at 1.05 max, and I had it at 1.051, and it was supposed to fall below 1.02 when the primary fermentation was over, and before I started siphoning I measured it at 1.017. So what does that mean? The hydrometer measures potential alcohol, and as the yeast eats the sugar and metabolizes it into alcohol, the brew becomes less dense because alcohol is less dense than sugar, making the hydrometer float a little lower. So you subract the second reading from the first and multiply the result by 131, and that is it's alcoholic content by volume, thus my brew is about 4.5% so far. We'll see what happens in about another two weeks or so.

Jenn and I have discussed the party and here is what we have so far: It will be on Saturday, October 22, and it will be a fancy dress party, more because it's Jenn's birthday than because of Halowe'en. Also there will be a little over 20L of beer to share, so limited alcohol will be supplied, and bring your own after that.

What has yet to be confirmed is whether it will start before or after dinner, whether dinner will be some kind of delivery thing or if I'll be working the grill, and if I am grilling will it be bring your own whatever or will it be everyone pitches in a few dollars and we'll have lots of bratwurst on buns as well as pretzels for Oktoberfest. Also, we have yet to determine how much crashing space is available (both of our futons fold down into twin beds) and if we'll be hosting after-party tea the next day.

So how about we be a little democratic and everyone who cares can pitch in their two cents (as a posted reply rather than an email please) and Jenn and I will make a decision based on that?

I looked at the calendar, and Oct. 22nd is about 7 weeks away. According to my beer kit, it should take about 35 days to brew. So Colin came over and helped me to sanitize my equipment and get the kit going. There's no cooking required, the wort is already brewed, just had to mix it with 8L of water (I bought two 4L jugs of western family demineralized water in an attempt to reduce the bacteria in the mixture), a bag of stuff meant to balance the pH, the wort syrup (mmm... wort syrup...) and sprinkly the dry yeast on top. Not much to it, but the proof is in the pudding. Which is to say, by the time Oct. 22 comes around, I ought to have 23L of beer to share with my friends. And if it turns out to be not so good, I'm hoping my friends will still help me drink it, because free beer almost always tastes good. Now I just have to get my wife's approval to throw a party on her birthday.

Jenn and I were drinking tonight. We played drinking checkers, and I won, only because she didn't want to drink anymore (in other words, she set her pieces up so that I would have to drink them). Anyway, we just finished watching the Pirate Movie, and I must say that it was utter shite, the Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt production of Pirates of Penzance was way better, and Darkman beats the pants off both of them. Jenn disagrees, and goes so far as to be unable to see any redeeming qualities to Darkman, but what do you expect from someone who doesn't find Mr. Bean funny. The point is, I'm not too drunk to blog (not to mention spell Linda Ronstadt correctly on the first try) and she isn't, and since I said it first, what I said is true, and if she disagrees she's just being a troll, so there.

Darkman is way better than the Pirate Movie (which was not directed by Sam Raimi and does not have bit parts played by Ted Raimi and Bruce Campbell) and that is that.

I have buffalo. Organic beans and vegetables should be easy to find. Everything is proceeding as I have forseen.

Okay you Livejournal reading type people... DON'T COME TO MY BIRTHDAY PARTY! It's on Saturday February 12th, so don't randomly show up that night, especially after 6pm. Don't even come by to visit the other people I live with because I'M KICKING THEM OUT, AND THAT MANGY FLEABAG NAMED BREAKFAST TOO! I'll be perfectly and contentedly miserable drinking by myself, thankyou very much. I'm thinking about making some organic chili and cornbread (if I can get my hands on some ground buffalo), way too much for me to eat alone, but DON'T THINK I'LL SHARE, BECAUSE I WON'T EVEN ANSWER THE DOOR! Failing that, probably pizza, that's good with beer. So whatever you do, make other dinner plans that night because you can't hang out with me! I can't stress enough that I absolutely do not want to see people I like that night! I DON'T want to play Constructionary, Bitin' off Hedz or Epic Duels (or even a Scorched Earth tournament), I DON'T want to get drunk and make stupid GURPS characters, and I DON'T want to watch episodes of Samurai Jack or Rex the Runt! You crazy people stay away from me!

And no, this is not verbal irony, I don't even know what that is!

Not too much to report, actually. The 20th was Jenn's birthday, and it went swimmingly. A good time was had by all, I wore green tights and got pleasantly intoxicated (not hammered, not buzzed, just a happy medium... moderation truly is the key), I finally have a brain and I got some Lucozade brain energy fluid for it. It was Jenn's birthday, but I got a belated present too... a DEEP FRYER! I was given the receipt in case I wanted to exchange it for Lego, and my response was something about eating the receipt instead. We had Indian food delivered, and used disposable tableware to avoid dishes, so cleanup was fast and easy the next day. Friday, Saturday, Sunday I worked. Yesterday I put together my Zombie Awareness Week flyers, and Neal was kind enough to help me get them looking nice. I got 120 copies made and at 3:30 am distributed them to every apartment in my building. Today, I don't know what's happening. Jenn and I have a day off, as does Bel, George, Derek, Tim, and possibly others. Shenanigans may ensue, so I've already started to chill the booze.

And now, the badger pentology!

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/21/
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/24/
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/25/
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/35/
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/badgerphone.php

This time my excuse is the computer itself. About two days after my last update the computer got absolutely bogged down with spyware, and suffice to say that getting the computer back to an acceptable level of operation (ie, not taking 15 minutes for me to check my email) was a group effort, and it is just today that I'm finding the speed up to snuff enough to take the time to blog. So, what have I been doing for the last little while? I'll tell you:

Sept. 17 was a busy day. First, Jenn and I took out a bunch of garbage, including a crappy TV and dresser that have been just taking up space in the living room. Then we went to my folks place and picked up a shelving unit, my Orient Expedition sets, and all of the technic droids. We came home and I put up the new shelving unit, and then Jenn and I cleaned up the place for our party that night. I was hoping to get the Lego all together before the party, but to no avail. The reason for the party was that Jenn hadn't been shitfaced in a long time, and she wanted to change that. So I took her to school, UBC engineering styles. The next thing I know, I'm waking up in vomit, thinking "Crap, I thought I'd put this kind of behaviour behind me." I start cleaning up the bed, and Jenn mumbles at me, "Sorry I puked on your side of the bed." So I didn't sleep in my own puke afterall, just someone else's. Is that better? I'd rather not think about it. You know, if I'd just stuck to my own beer, I would have been fine, but Tall Neal was feeding me his Baja Rosa crap de la crap, and Colin was feeding me shots of rum, and well, what do you expect. Not that I didn't deserve that kind of treatment, seeing as I was fortifying Jenn's rum and coke with rum as well. So saturday was like death, but Jenn and I survived, vowing that next time we drink, we'll buy premixed liquor and stick to what we provide ourselves. Those of you who don't drink are probably thinking "how stupid can you be to do that to yourself?" Well, any answer I give would probably be a bunch of bs justification, so I'll simplify my answer to say that it's not always that bad, and moderation is a skill that I've almost got down 100%. Almost.

So by the time tea rolled around on Sunday I had all my Lego put together (as did Jenn, since the Hailfire Droid now belongs to her). Most of the week was business as usual, except for adding for DVD's to our collection, on account of they were cheap: Bubba Ho-Tep ($15), Swing Kids ($9), UHF ($10), The Efficiency Expert ($7). I also finally replaced my slippers. I also downloaded a free CAD program which was free because the more "advanced" features like trim and fillet are on the full version only.

Thursday the 23rd Jenn and I borrowed my parent's van and drove to the north shore to pick up a freezer someone Jenn knew was getting rid of, and much of the day was used up in that endeavor. That evening, I used the CAD program I had downloaded to make a floorplan of my room, and when Jenn was awake we used the CAD program to rearrange furniture and see if we could make a better layout. We found one which I though would be really neat, as well as easy to move furniture into, so I did it right away.

Friday to Sunday I worked, and now I'm just sitting around while our icebox defrosts. I want to get a whole bunch of stuff done around the house today, so that tomorrow can be an absolute no brainer while Jenn and I both have the day off. Well, that's all for now.

Yesterday was the first annual official vampire day in Brazil. Why? Because only 2% of the poplulation gives blood, and the government figured this would help.

Boy, long time no update, huh? Nothing much to report really. The Leo party was fun, although I showed up late because I was busy assembling the Wild West, and drinking ensued. Drinking was followed by drunken dream. It was the day of the wedding for Jenn and I. Dinner was over and it was time for Jenn and I to cut the cake, but Jenn was somewhere else. The head cook dude told me that this cake was supposed to be tart, but how tart it was could be adjusted immediately before being served, so after cutting and tasting the cake, we would position our plate a certain way to indicate how we wanted the tartness adjusted. Then he showed me the cake, and it looked like it was made from equal parts bread pudding and boiled peas. I ran off to find Jenn, told her what was going on, and asked if she knew anything about it. She told me that she had requested a Soggy Cake (what, you've never heard of that? it's traditional british type thing), and the lady she had spoken to brusquely said "we'll give you (this), and it will cost (this)".

I woke up and had waffles. Tea was supposed to be cancelled, but it happened anyway.

Wednsday Jenn, Derek, Rick, Sean, Colin and I met up for fish and chips at Cockney King's. It was good. Then we played Deadwood, using Wild West minifigs for pawns. We had to stop early because I offered to drive Jenn to work, and on the way back I picked up the Lego Studios set with the webcam and movie software from Toys R Us, where it was marked down by $150. Unfortunately, the software is incompatible with Windows XP, but Lego has made new software and I'm just waiting to hear from them on how to get my hands on it.

Thursday night Jenn and I stayed in and rented Hellboy and Kitchen Stories. Hellboy was good, but Kitchen Stories was the movie of the night. Good old Norwegian art film on crack, about a swiss study on the kitchen habits of batchelors. My Dad must see this movie, so folks, if you're reading this, go rent it (it's a new release) and watch it together.

That's about it. Time for dinner.

Saturday night I brought as much of my building Lego as I could to Jenn's by transit. I had decided to give Taz one more try before returning it back to Zellers as defective. I tried playing a new game, and in my frustration hit the button again and again. In doing so, I discovered that when both the manual and on screen instructions say "press B to accelerate", what they mean is "hammer B like mad, as fast as you can, because if you don't nothing will happen". The only things worse than instruction manuals written by people who don't speak english are ones written by americans.

Sunday was tea, and Jenn and I got to try out Constructionary. Very fun, but the pawns are boring, generic pawns, so I brought out my minifig bits for people to make their own pawns. Making the minifigs wound up taking about as long as playing the game, but in all fairness, it's a quick game. Definately made for kids in that regard, but there are ways to make it harder.

I bussed home with Bel, and we made impromptu plans for a picnic on Victoria day. I went back to Jenn's, taking the rest of my building Lego with me, and made calls on the way up the hill for sandwich stuff, chips, juice, and watermelon (gotta have watermelon). Turnout for the picnic was really good, and we had tons of blankets. After food I finally got a game of sticker edition Thousand Blank White Cards going, which was fantabulous. Then Kim, Bel, Angus and I walked down to the Rogers and rented Comic Book Villians and Dagon. After breaking out some alcohol for refreshments, more people came over and a group of us went out to pick up more booze and mixers, as well as ingredients for rotini and cheese with broiled weiners. Drunkage commenced.

Yesterday I woke up feeling like death, and cut the greens in the rain.

And now, the cool stuff. Guinness vs Star Wars!
http://www.guinness1759society.com/offer/Brann1759/33351392/EN/welcome.asp
http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/content/starwars_brilliant